Catenaa, Sunday, September 21, 2026- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has sent a broad crypto market regulatory action to the White House for review, moving ahead with plans to establish rules for digital asset trading without waiting for Congress on Thursday.
The filing, titled “Regulation Crypto Asset Transactions and Regulation Crypto Asset Markets,” was submitted September 17 to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, or OIRA.
OIRA, part of the Office of Management and Budget, reviews federal regulatory actions before agencies generally move toward publication.
The filing is listed as a “prerule” action, meaning detailed proposed requirements have not yet been made public.
The CFTC has declined to disclose further details.
The move follows warnings from CFTC Chair Michael Selig that the agency would use its existing authority if Congress failed to enact a wider crypto market structure law.
Selig said in August that staff had been directed to examine rules that could create a CFTC-supervised market structure for crypto assets.
One possibility outlined by Selig would allow existing regulated firms and currently unregistered crypto exchanges to seek designation as a type of designated contract market, or DCM, for leveraged or margined crypto trading.
The CFTC is also examining how developers of onchain financial protocols could operate within existing commodities law.
The agency’s latest move comes after the Senate failed September 15 to advance the CLARITY Act.
The procedural vote ended 49-50, short of the 60 votes required to invoke cloture and move the legislation toward debate.
The bill sought to establish a broader federal framework for digital asset markets and clarify regulatory responsibilities between the CFTC and Securities and Exchange Commission.
Federal regulators have continued acting independently since the Senate setback.
The SEC on September 17 issued a five-year conditional “Innovation Exemption” allowing limited onchain trading of tokenized US-listed stocks through qualifying venues.
The CFTC the same day expanded no-action relief for qualifying software developers that connect users with regulated derivatives markets without taking on traditional introducing-broker functions.
Those measures can provide regulatory pathways under existing law, but they do not carry the permanence of legislation passed by Congress.
The White House review does not mean the CFTC rules have been finalized.
OIRA may request changes before the agency proceeds, and any formal proposal could still be subject to public comment and additional regulatory procedures.
